Spirits and other alcoholic beverages are served for consumption in a variety of ways. The most basic method of serving an alcoholic beverage is in a glass, appropriately configured to deliver a serving-sized portion of the selected beverage. To increase consumer interest and to compete for market share, purveyors of spirits and other alcoholic beverages often attempt to create alternative and entertaining methods of presenting and serving their products. These methods include innovative packaging and delivery systems ranging from simple improvements in presentation, such as serving ale in a yard glass, to more involved creations, such as adding flavors and elaborate garnishing.
There have been considerable efforts in the past to produce ethyl alcohol products in other than beverage form. Various candies and foods containing ethyl alcohol have been envisioned and produced. However, typically the ethyl alcohol content in these products are highly diluted and they are often too filling or rich to serve as an acceptable method of consuming more than a very insignificant quantity of alcohol.
One popular non-beverage alternative method of presenting ethyl alcohol for consumption is often referred to as a Jell-O shot. A Jell-O shot is named after the trademark of a popular brand of dessert made from sweetened and flavored gelatin. It is prepared by bringing water to boil and mixing flavored and sweetened gelatin. The resulting mixture is then cooled, ethyl alcohol and/or other spirits are added, and it is poured into serving sized portions. The serving sized portions are subsequently refrigerated allowing the gelatin to form a gel. Once the gel is formed or set, the Jello-O shot is kept refrigerated until shortly before consumption. The refrigeration is required because gelatin, which consists of to partially hydrolyzed collagen, forms a thermally reversible gel with water upon cooling that deteriorates if the gel's temperature is subsequently raised above approximately 35 degrees Celsius. While 35 degrees Celsius is above typical ambient room temperature, the gel tends to soften and lose form and structure as it approaches that temperature; therefore, it may not exhibit ideal structural properties at ambient room temperature. Also, if not chilled, a Jell-O shot will begin to melt and become messy immediately upon being handled since human body temperature is above 35 degree Celsius. These limitations are significant complications to any commercial production effort.
There exists a demand for a more structurally firm and thermally stable, non-beverage delivery system for the consumption of ethyl alcohol. Several attempts have been made to meet this demand, however, in each case, challenges in encapsulation technology and chemistry have proved too great, leading to less desirable or compromised products.
One such attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,780,355. This disclosure teaches the use of plasticized gelatin shells as an encapsulation shell. However, this method is unsatisfactory because the encapsulated ethyl alcohol will typically diffuse through a gelatin shell due to its low molecular weight unless it is dissolved in a dispersant such as polyethylene glycol. Further, the additional of polyethylene glycol still does not prevent all leakage as determined upon observation after three weeks and it introduces additional concerns such as its mildly toxicity, and the further dilution of the ethyl alcohol.
Another such method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,327. This disclosure teaches an encapsulation process including the steps of dropping a core liquid into a solution of alginic acid salt and calcium salt to form a calcium alginate membrane, waiting for the calcium alginate membrane to form, extracting the core liquid from the capsule, and exchanging it for the desired edible fluid such as ethyl alcohol. However, problems with leaking and oozing exist with this method as well. Further, this method is relatively labor intensive which presents commercialization challenges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,835 teaches yet another method including the use of a viscous liquid that is scarcely miscible with water to form a barrier between the hydrophilic edible liquid containing ethyl alcohol and the gelatin based encapsulation membrane. The scarcely miscible liquid serves to prevent migration of the hydrophilic edible fluid into the encapsulation membrane resulting in a softening of the membrane and the encouragement of bacteria and mold growth. However, concomitant with the beneficial use of a scarcely miscible liquid, such as coffee oil as is taught in this reference, comes the adverse result of leaving an oily or waxy residue in the mouth of the consumer making the consumable less desirable.
There exists a demand for a commercially viable non-beverage delivery system for the consumption of ethyl alcohol that exhibits minimal organoleptic qualities and is not disposed to oozing or leakage.
The present disclosure distinguishes over the related art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.